Khagrachari Correspondent: Panchari Upazila Awami League leader accused of robbing 3 culverts, audio leaked. Bridge rod theft, attempt to frame innocent person continues.
Three government-funded culverts and bridge rod looting incidents have taken a new turn on the border road of Panchari in the district. Already, an audio of the incident discussed in the district has spread through social media. This incident has created a sensation in the area. The main hero of the incident is Uttam Kumar Deb, Joint General Secretary of Awami League of Panchari Upazila of Khagrachari District.
DB Police is investigating the case on the orders of the court. Police said the audio will be added as a ‘document’ in the case. In the 5 minute 52 second audio, four people can be heard having a conversation. In the audio, a person named Nazmul is asked to give false information to the police in the case of rod theft. For this he was advised to run away with Tk 20 lakhs. At the same time, the issue of imprisoning a local Awami League leader named Jaynath Deb came up.
Jaynath Dev is a member of District Awami League. Apart from Nazmul, the identity of two others was found in the conversation of the four people. They are, Panchari Upazila Awami League joint secretary and contractor Uttam Kumar Deb and Panchari ward number 5 member Jabbar Hossain. It is known that Nazmul is an auto-rickshaw driver by profession.
At the beginning of the leaked audio, a person talks about Jabbar Hossain with Nazmul. Then Jabbar Hossain taught Nazmul to tell the police that Jaynath Dev had sold the stolen rods to him at the rate of 40 taka. He brought the rods by auto from Jaynath Dev’s Talukdar Para house. Forbidden to mention the name of Uttam in any way. He threatened to spend 20 lakhs for Nazmul if necessary and that he would not be arrested. If the police arrest him, he will get bail from the High Court.
Uttam Kumar Dev also talks to Nazmul in the audio. He asked Nazmul to stay calm. He asked to switch off his mobile phone. Asks him to contact Jabbar and someone Hanif instead of calling him. At this time, Nazmul is heard talking about his fear.
Then in the conversation of Jabbar-Nazmul again, Jabbar asked Nazmul to stay out for 4/5 days. One Hanif will send five thousand rupees for expenses. Besides, it is said in that audio to remove the used SIM and use a new SIM.
In this regard, Awami League leader Jaynath Deb said, because I am trying to root out these crimes, the criminals are angry and trying to frame me. At this time, he demanded a proper investigation into the incident.
But Uttam Kumar Dev’s mobile number was tried several times but he did not pick up the call. On the other hand, Jabbar Hossain’s mobile phone was not connected.
DB Police Inspector Md Shamsuzzaman said the leaked audio will be registered in the case. Apart from this, the name of Uttam Kumar Dev will be mentioned in the investigation of the incident. Although the deadline given by the court is till 30th April, he also said that he has applied for an extension of another 15 days. However, Nazmul complained that the DB police was not taking his statement and instead was threatening to make him a defendant in the case.
Incidentally, in early March of this year, miscreants broke open the rods and looted 3 paved culverts constructed with government funding on the Panchari border road of Khagrachari in broad daylight. For seven consecutive days, a group of youths broke the culverts and took the rods in their cars. When the matter came to the notice of the journalists, the administration was shaken.
Finally, Panchari Upazila Project Implementation Officer (PIO) Abdus Salam made a GD at Panchari Police Station on March 9 but did not mention the names of those involved.
Apart from this, the GD mentions the rods being stolen at night. However, the eyewitnesses said that they broke the culvert and took the rod in the car for five consecutive days during the day, not at night.
On March 25, a report was published in various newspapers including The Crime under the title “Miscreants broke the culvert on the Khagrachari border road and took the rod” and video news was published on digital media. When the news was published and circulated in the media, the matter came to the attention of the court.
On March 29, Senior Judicial Magistrate GM Farhan Istiaq of Amli Court of Khagrachari passed an order on Missing the case (Case No. 2/2023) as the plaintiff. In the order, he directed the Police Inspector of Khagrachari District Intelligence Branch (DB) to visit the site of the incident as soon as possible and collect evidence and submit a report against those involved within the next 30 April.
Apart from this, the court also pointed out that Panchari Police Station OC Md. Harunur Rashid lacked responsibility in the sensational and sensitive incident and ordered him to appear in person and give an explanation.
It is to be noted that two bridges of 40 feet length were constructed between the Chankhola road of Logang Union PIO office of Panchari and the road leading to Durgamani Para of the same union under disaster management in the year 2016/17 for the local residents in Panchari of Khagrachari. Besides, a culvert rod constructed by the Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board in Harubil-Kachuchhari area was also stolen. In this incident, a general diary was first made at the police station. From the beginning, Uttam Kumar Dev was blamed for the incident.
However, on April 26, DB Police recovered 58 pieces of rods of various sizes stolen from the back of Nazmul’s residence in T&T area of Panchhari. Its weight is about 755 kg.
